To give you all a little back ground, I have been climbing since 1998. I have been all over the US and currently live in southern California. Over the years of climbing i can only recall 3 close calls that I have had. The first was when i was just starting out, about 2 months into staring the sport i had forgotten to double back my swami on the harness. Then second was allowing an in-experienced climber lead. The third and the latest was just over a month ago in New Jack City. I had forgotten to follow through on my tie in.... This should serve as a reminder to everyone not just beginners to always perform your buddy checks.

Most of the close calls I have had involved a shitty belayer. The largest incident occured at Smith Rocks. I was linking a two pitch route together as a single pitch. I fell about five feet above the first bolt of the second pitch. What should have been a quite short fall turned into me zipping past eight bolts. It turns out my belayer kept her thumb on the Cinch cam forcing the device open. At the last moment she let go and the device locked on its own. But in reality it is my fault because I was the senior climber and I okayed her to belay me. On the upside, I probably set the record for the longest fall on that route.

At Foster falls an inattentive belay almost ended with a ground fall. I'm lucky I didn't hit the ground, but my partner was standing too far from the ground and I landed on the rope between him and the first qd. this happened:

There's been a lot of little screw ups that I wouldn't call close calls, but there are 2 that stick out in my mind that might qualify

1. Climbing with my wife in NH. A long day was coming to an end. We just climbed something kind of hard and it was hot out. I was tired and done for the day. At the second rappel, I went to lean back on my rappel and my wife Yells "STOP!" I had neglected to set my rappel device up (although if memory serves, I had my prussic attached, so I probably would have been fine).

2. I was climbing in CT with a friend and wanted to try something harder, so I picked out a classic that I have never done before. "A classic test piece put up by Henry Barber," that says merely 5.10. No a. No b. No c. No d. Just 5.10. About halfway up I was getting pumped and was having an unusually hard time getting gear in. I finally get something in and pull up rope when my foot pops. Here I go! My next piece down was a little ways away but then I hit it and it pops. Oh Shit! Finally the rope catches me and my belayer gets pulled up. We were looking into each others eyes in disbelief, 5 feet off the ground.

My first time climbing with a guy at Lumpy Ridge, we look at the topo, briefly, before heading up Osiris. Lead the first three pitches but can't remember where the 4th pitch starts. We end up traversing to the base of a good *looking* dihedral, and up he goes (I got first and third pitches). It takes him a long time, and the dihedral has few holds and fewer opportunities for pro. When I follow, it also takes me a long time, so I get to the belay right as the sun is setting. Neither of us has a headlamp. I look at the belay and my partner notes apologetically "If I'd told you, I doubt you would've followed the pitch". Its an old, very rusty quarter incher, and a #2 stopper. I doubt I could downclimb the previous pitch, he's the same way. There's nothing to the right, so i look left. There might be holds, but there isn't pro for at least 10 feet. As I commit, I think to myself "you MUST NOT FALL". I remember getting increasingly more frazzled as I smeared across the way, using every counter-pressure technique I knew, trying not to recall that a fall here would likely pull the belay, killing us both. Finally, I reach a perfect #1 friend crack. I slam that beast in there, then in a moment of panic, clip the rope directly to the cam sling.

The pitch continues in that style until I finally find a good stance below a steep hand-crack that seemed to bring us to the cliff top. At this point, thanks to my terror-induced rope-management errors, I felt like I was towing the Queen Mary, so a belay was in order. I brought my partner over in the hopes that he might take this last lead, but he's tapped out mentally, so its back to me for this last pitch. Its another 5.9/5.10 pitch, but its bomber jams the whole way, so, despite the fact that I'm now operating by moonlight, its cruiser. Then, we have to negotiate the walk-off in the dark, back to the packs and our headlamps.

When I called my (now ex) brother-in-law to let him know I'd be home late, he responded "what, you're not here?", so I guess leaving my plan with him wouldn't have saved my ass anyway.

I went to go bouldering in the Getto, which is a small wall on the first flatiron overlooking Boulder CO. Access is via a short section of 5th class climbing that I missed on the approach and ended up doing a far more insecure and difficult way. I then proceeded to climb until past sunset, when I realized I did not have a head lamp, and did not remember where the downclimb was. Yep, I was almost benighted bouldering, more less within sight of my house.

When I had first started climbing I was leading a trad route up Flatiron One in Boulder, CO. About halfway up the fourth pitch I look to my harness. I notice the rope is not tied! Simply run through the belt and leg loop being held by body friction only. Seeing that I was new I missed the obvious answer of quickly tying it. Instead I remove my gearsling and take out the rope and go into "freesolo" mode to look for a safety resting point. Big mistake. I ended up getting scared out of my head 500ft up on a slab and had to cling onto an extreamly exposed flake for 25mins while my partner initiated rescue. We bolth had about 1 month climbing expirence at the time and this was our first "real" trad climb. I look back on the day with joy.

I agree with you about shitty belayers. I decked from 35' recently when a newbie belayer was lowering me and lost control of the rope. It was an accident, and he felt terrible, but it was my decision to put my fate in his hands. A decision I will certainly think harder about next time I let someone belay me.